Game apparatus



M 28, 1948. H. c. DUNFEE 2,450,125

GAME APPARATUS Filed Feb. 20, 1946' 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 v 3 7. Call/Z72 Sept. 28, 1948. Q E 2,450,125

GAME APPARATUS Filed Feb. 20, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FLU-S 4 7 6 6120172 pwzfee Patented Sept. 28, 1948 U N I TED STAT ES PATENT OFF-ICE GAME APPARATUS "H. Calvin :Dunfee, Miami, Fla. Application Februaty'ZO, 1946, Serial ItT'o. 548,954 B'ClaimS. (o1. aws-35) This invention relates to game apparatus, its primary object is to provide means for playing a game closely simulating the game of golf but which may be played in restricted spaces.

While theobject of the invention is to provide a game closely related to the game of golf, the invention goes further than that in that it aims to provide means for automatically keeping the score of a plurality of players playing either successively or simultaneously.

Further the invention contemplates a means for maintaining a plurality of play pieces, such as balls, imposition so that they maybe counted at the convenience of the player or of the keeper of the court while permitting additional players to proceed with their play.

It is a further object of the invention to provide game apparatus of such a nature that it will be sufliciently silent in action so that it may be played upon courts located in settled areas without disturbance to other residents and also so constructed that excessive rebound of the balls or like playing pieces will be prevented.

"Further objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description which follows:

'In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a horizontal sectional view of apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view upon line2-2 of Figure 1 of the ball-collecting troughs and a barrier therein hereafter described.

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view upon line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudin'al s'ectional'view upon line 4-4 of Figure 1 and Figure 5 is a fragmentary plan view of the ball-collecting trough.

"Like numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

To render the apparatus relatively silent in play, a court 5 which may be covered with grass or any other suitable material is enclosed by a net. This net includes the sides 6, back wall I, and :preferably a top wall 8. A plurality of short nets '9 are disposed fore and aft of the court to divide the rear end of the court into pockets which, in "the form chosen for purposes of illustration, are designated by scoring numbers, the outer pockets bearing the scoring numbers i, the next inner pockets bearing the scoring numbers 5, the next inner pockets bearing the scoring numbers 4 and the central pocket bearing the scoring number '3. An additional small pocket is'fo'rmed "by abag-like net H which spans the front of the central or -3 pocket and the player who drives a "ball into this pocket once is considered to have made a"birdie while the player who puts two balls into this restricted pocket is considered to have 'made a hole-in-one. Players who drive balls into the outside pockets are considered, for example, to have made seven strokes in negotiating that particular h'ole, it being assumed that the play is upon an 18-hole course. Any desired number may be established as par and this may 'be varied by varying the values of the large numerals in the several pockets.

To "prevent the excessive rebound of the -ba'lls, that portion of the rear wall which constitutes the'bottoms of the pockets is curved as indicated atBa.

For collecting the balls and bringing them to a common point to be counted, a four-channel trough I3 is provided. This trough extends transversely across the courtfiscurvedat |4,-ex tends lengthwise along-side the court at t5 and terminates adjacent the front of the court. The 1 pockets communicate with the inside channel [5 of the trough (see Figure 1)., the lower edge of the net constituting the bottom of these po'ckets'being connected to fabric or other suitable'strips 'lfi'which span all of the channels ex cept the channel 15 and which terminate at the edge of the channel i5 so that balls'lan'ding in the""l pockets will roll into'channel l5. In like manner the 5 pockets communicate with the second channel 11, the 4 pockets communicate with the third channel 1'8 and the 3" pockets communi'cate'with the fourth channel l9.

At the front edge of the court, 'I dispose a plurality of T's. These may consist merely of small rubber rings 20 which are prevented "from being'knocked away by being attached to rubber bands 21. The outer ends of these rubberbands are attached to the sides of mats 22 upon which the players stand. These mats may, in texture, simulate grass and they provide a more or less yielding surface upon which to :rest the 'T. I have found that there is a psychological effect flowing from the resting of the T upon the yielding surface approaching the natural surface which is of benefit to the :player and aids him in making a better shot than would be the case :if the T were rested upona concrete or-other unyielding surface and there may be four or more of the Ts and four or moreplayers may'be playing simultaneously.

To keep thescores of "the several players's'eparate, the balls used by the several players are all of different colors, that is to say, there are a number of groups of balls. At the start of play each player is given a pail of balls and all of the same color. Theoretically for an 18-hole game the player would receive 18 balls; however, I find it of advantage to allow 20 balls assuming that two balls compensate for unusual hazards. It will be clear that by providing the separate channels for the pockets of the several values and by providing each player with readily identifiable game pieces such as balls of varying colors, the court keeper may by inspection of the number of red balls, for example, in the several channels, determine almost at a glance how many theoretical strokes the player had to use in disposing of his pail of balls.

Referring now to Figure 2, the number 23 rep resents a plate which may be of plastic or metal or any other suitable material which fits within the several channels and constitutes a barrier for stopping the balls short of the end of the trough, the position of this barrier being indicated by 25 in Figure 1. After one group of players has finished playing, this barrier may be removed and.

the balls may be permitted to roll to the end of the trough or to the position illustrated at 26-. The barrier may then be replaced and an additional group of players may proceed with their play and the balls with which they will play will be stopped by the barrier wall, leaving the balls at 26 in their previously related position so that while the second group of players is playing, the court keeper may, at his convenience, count the score of the players whose balls are located at the position 26. Widely varied rules may be provided for the playing of the game such as, for example, giving a free game to those persons who complete the play at par or under.

Any suitable way may be employed for supporting the net structure; when played in small areas between buildings it is possible to support the ends from adjacent buildings. In open areas I may support them upon poles 21 through the medium of cables 28. I also contemplate the use of a putting structure in conjunction with this same apparatus. To this end there is a cup 2%, the same being in advance of a raised bank or bunker 30, the face of which is provided with numerals 3| indicating the value of plays made over the bunker at the respective points indicated by numerals 3|. An over-hanging net 32 extends transversely across the court behind and above the bunker and catches balls discharged thereover. The putting arrangement constituted by the structure just described may be used in conjunction with, or independently of the remainder of the apparatus.

While I have described the invention as consisting of a net-like means for forming the several playing pockets, I wish it to be understood that the invention is not limited in this respect. While the net possesses the advantages recited of preventing excessive rebound and of preventing excessive noise in play, it is clear that the automatic recording of the score by the provision of the multiple channel trough, the channels of which are related to some of the playing pockets 'and not to others would be present, no matter whether the device were formed by nets or otherwise. While the apparatus described is particularly adapted for playing a game simulating golf it is also of utility in practicing with other forms of projectiles than golf balls. It may be used to advantage in throwing or batting any kind of 4 projectiles including baseballs, tennis balls, and the like.

When used for commercial purposes the apparatus permits fast play by a number of players, playing simultaneously and this makes for large profits.

This application is a continuation in part of the disclosure of my copending application, Serial No. 584,160 filed on March 22, 1945.

The mats 22 may be provided with surfaces simulating grass by making them much like so called grass mats often employed for door mats. They preferably rest upon a relatively smooth surface 22a, upon which the players stand, the mats being free to move bodily forward under the impact of the stroke of a golf club. Such forward movement of the mat is resisted by rubber strands 22b which act to draw the mat back to its original position after the stroke.

The smooth surface over which the mats move may be of any suitable material. I find an elongated fiat canvas pillow-like member extending across the rear end of the court to be suitable for this purpose.

The mats may be used for chipping the balls in play, that is the balls are struck without the Ts being employed. These yieldable mats may be used with many forms of apparatus other than the net arrangement shown.

While lhave described the balls of the several groups as diliering in color from each other, the diiierentiation may be efiected by stripes, dots, indentations, size, shape or otherwise.

It is to be understood that the invention includes within its purview Whatever changes fairly come within either the terms or the spirit of the appended claims.

l. A game apparatus of the character dewall presenting a downwardly and forwardly curved portion, a plurality of fore and aft net portions spaced from each other to constitute a group of pockets disposed across the rear end of the apparatus the front faces of which are open from top to bottom, a plurality of channels extending across the lower forward portions of said pockets with one of which the two outside pockets communicate, with another ofwhich the next two inside pockets communicate, and

with another of which the central pocket communicates, said channels leading to a common point, an overhead support for the fore and aft net portions, the lower ends of said net portions being shaped to conform to the curvature of the forwardly curved portion of said rear wall and being attached to said rear wall to thereby suspend and support the same, said forwardly curved portion of the rear wall forming a bottom for all of said pockets.

2. A game apparatus of the character described comprising a playing field, a rear wall net the lower portion of which is forwardly curved toward the horizontal, a multiple channel trough extending transversely across the net structure, a plurality of fore and aft short nets forming a plurality of forwardly facing net pockets across the rear of the net structure one of which is centrally disposed, there being at least three of said pockets in addition to the central one upon each side of the central pocket and the forwardly curved portion of the rear wall net constituting a bottom for all of said Having described my invention, what I claim J pockets, means for connecting the two pockets upon the opposite sides of the central one to one of the channels of the trough, means for connecting the next outermost pockets upon each side of the central one with another channel of the trough, means for connecting the two outermost pockets with a third channel of the trough and means for connecting the central pocket with a fourth channel of the trough, an overhead support for the fore and aft short nets, said short nets being connected at their bottoms to the forwardly curved portions of the rear wall net and constituting a support for the same.

3. A structure as recited in claim 2 wherein said trough is extended lengthwise along the side of the playing field to a point adjacent the forward end thereof.

4. A. structure as recited in claim 2 in combination with a bag-like receptacle disposed at the forward edge of the central pocket, and extending vertically through only a small part of the height of the central pocket and near the central point of the height of said pocket.

5. A structure as recited in claim 2 in combinatlon with a removable barrier for simultaneously transversely blocking off all said channels of the trough.

6. A game apparatus of the character described comprising a playing field, a rear wall net which extends substantially entirely across the rear end of said field and the lower portion of which is curved forwardly from the vertical toward the horizontal, a multiple channel trough extending transversely across the rear wall net, a plurality of fore and aft short nets spaced across the rear wall and forming a plurality of forwardly facing net pockets across the rear wall net, means for suspending both the rear 6 wall net and said short nets to hang freely, the lower ends of the said short nets conforming to the forward curvature of and being attached to the lower portion of the rear wall net, whereby said short nets in addition to defining said net pockets serve to aid in suspending the said forwardly curved portion of the rear wall net, various portions of the lower edge of the net being connected to the said troughs, in such manner that the net pockets are arranged in pairs, one upon each side of the center of the rear wall net with both of the pockets of the pairs attached to the same trough and. with each pair of pockets.

trough.

attached to a different i H. CALVIN DUNF'EE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 834,581 Lambert Oct. 30, 1906 1,012,820 Cory Dec. 26, 1911 1,513,978 Flynn et a1. Nov. 4, 1924 1,540,670 Vidmer June 2, 1925 1,582,237 Angeli Apr. 27, 1926 1,763,243 Macfadden June 10, 1930 1,788,708 Degler Jan. 13, 1931 1,799,263 Swain et a1. Apr. 7, 1931 1,923,152 Kohn Aug. 22, 1933 2,061,973 Loeb Nov. 24, 1936 2,144,439 Duffy Jan 17, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 325,441 Great Britain Feb. 20, 1930 

